This is a good place to begin an election campaign as it takes us back to the origins of this democratic institution as a deliberative assembly. It's where the folkmoot met in Anglo-Saxon days and where the portreeve, the precursor to the current office of lord mayor, was elected annually by the citizens of London. It's where the "ancient memory" of liberty still lingers.

This is a beautiful story and it is one that Phillips seems to know. Maybe that is just as well as he is facing sentencing – and possible imprisonment – next month for violent conduct during the riots last year. Some people in the City are now claiming that his candidacy should be voided because he did not register a conviction on his application for the Freedom of the City of London – the Freedom being a requirement for contesting any of the 100 or so seats spread across 25 wards. No doubt the lawyers will be busy disputing what technically constitutes a conviction.

What is undoubtedly true is that Phillips is not your typical candidate for a ward election in the City of London Corporation. He is what my mother would call a colourful character. In particular, he wants to have a debate about the current problems of capitalism and not just about street cleansing and plastics recycling.

I was first elected to the City Corporation in 2001. If you wanted to stand in those days you were first of all required to join the club. What this meant was that you needed to get a couple of existing councillors (or liverymen) to propose you for the Freedom of the City. Being a freeman – becoming a citizen of London – is a requirement for contesting any of the 100 or so seats spread across 25 wards.

I managed to find a couple of City sponsors. With the paperwork complete and a cheque for £20 in my pocket, I went to the chamberlain's court in the Guildhall to receive the Freedom. After I had joined the fraternity of the free, and as I was waiting for my certificate, I remarked to the clerk of the court on the curious relationship between these ancient guild practices, rooted in the traditions of the livery, and the City of London's role as an international lobbyist for the financial services.

I wondered out loud: how is it that the City embraces this medieval ceremonial in the Square Mile but throughout the rest of the world, in its unwavering commitment to deregulation, economic liberalisation and the logic of the bottom line, it is responsible for the dissolution of all non-market practices of solidarity and association? Kinda ironic, no?

A few days later I received a letter from the councillor who had supported my application. He demanded an apology for my rudeness in the chamberlain's court and he threatened to lodge a formal complaint with the bishop of London (which he subsequently did) unless I wrote to him to say I was sorry.

Actually, this is what he said:

"You should be aware of the tremendous amount of good which institutions you appear to despise do for your university and for churches in the Square Mile. Your behaviour puts such support in jeopardy."

So what I thought was a ceremony rooted in the deliberative traditions of the folkmoot turned out to be a ritual induction into keeping your mouth shut, a kind of omertà for the interests of the capital markets. Interesting!

After I was elected (another story), I discovered that the City's franchise was itself under review. The City was promoting a private bill in parliament to change the way the voting arrangements worked. Rather than deepening democracy, however, I found a proposal that consolidated the financial interest above all others.

I petitioned this bill in the House of Lords and my petition was heard before Lord Jauncey and four other lords in October 2002. The transcripts of the proceedings and subsequent report are a matter of parliamentary record.

At the time, no one was particularly concerned with transparency, accountability and democracy in the City. But my petition did have a number of quite specific consequences, one of which was that parliament required that the Freedom become readily available to any candidate who wished to stand in an election, without needing an existing member of the City Corporation to countersign it, like a chit.

So you don't now have to be in the club to get involved in City politics.

This is one reason that, barring illegal practice, Citizen Phillips should be encouraged to contest this byelection. After all one, of the former lord mayors of London, John Wilkes, himself a champion for liberty, spent extended periods of time in jail. I think his statue may even be in the ward of Farringdon.